C O R V U S. 



151 



climate or even the weather for the time is hot, becomes 

 absolutely alive ; and there are many similar creatures 

 on the ocean strand, where the ebbing and flowing of 

 the tide occasions something like an inundation, and 

 its departure twice every day. Besides the animal 

 food which it finds in those places, the chough is said 

 to be very fond of those wild berries which are gene- 

 rally abundant in the humid or marshy parts of the 

 uplands, and these furnish it with at least a seasonal 

 supply. Scopoli mentions that choughs feed much 

 upon juniper berries, which, as they take a long time 

 in growing, and are in several successions upon the 

 bushes at the same time, continue ripening for a 

 longer period, and are ripe more in the dry season 

 than the annual crops ; and they are followed by the 

 vacciniums and other berries of swifter growth and 

 shorter harvest. In this the chough follows the same 

 practice as the crows in the mountainous parts of our 

 own country, which may be seen in the mountain 

 marshes and other places which abound with berries 

 after the nesting is all over, and there is little for them 

 to plunder in the more dry and heathy parts of the 

 moors. 



Choughs take a good deal of care in the construc- 

 tion of their nests. These are usually formed in the 

 crannies of the rock, about midway up the cliff, so as 

 to be out of the reach of danger both from below and 

 from above. There are a good many materials used, 

 sticks to form the frame-work, and then a copious 

 lining of wool, hair, or other soft matters, as may 

 happen to be within the reach of the birds. The 

 eggs are usually about four or five in number, rather 

 larger than those of the jackdaw, of a dull white 

 colour, with spots of ash colour and pale brown, 

 which are most abundant at the larger end. 



Choughs seldom come abroad in stormy weather, 

 but they are much on the wing when it is fine, flying 

 high to and from their feeding grounds, and often 

 uttering their cries, which are more shrill and wailing 

 than those of jackdaws. They are very easily tamed, 

 and get familiar and even attached to those with 

 whose appearance they are familiar ; but they are 

 not fond of strangers. The difference of their notes 

 to those they know and those they do not are worthy 

 of attention to their acquaintances. Their tones of 

 address are soft and even coaxing ; but they utter a 

 very harsh alarm note when any one whom they do 

 not know approaches them. As is the case with all 

 the race, they are very apt to steal and secrete pieces 

 of money and other shining substances ; and in cot- 

 tages, where sticks are burnt, they are apt sometimes 

 to seize little pieces which are on fire at one end, 

 and fly about with them in a way not altogether safe. 

 CorvuA cart/ocatactes(t\ie SpottedCroworNutcracker.) 

 This species is not uncommon on the continent of 

 Europe, and it generally appears there in flocks ; but 

 in Britain it occurs only in straggling specimens, and 

 that very rarely. It is a very handsome bird, about 

 the size of u magpie, or about thirteen inches long, 

 and a foot and a half in the stretch of the wings. 

 The general colour of the body is dusky brown, all 

 marked over with triangular white spots. The crown 

 of the head, the wings, and the tail, are blackish, 

 the latter marked with white at the tip, and the middle 

 feathers with the ends of their webs ragged and in- 

 complete. 



There are some points of resemblance between the 

 nutcracker and both the magpie and the jay; but 

 the bill is of a different shape, the mandibles Icing 



straighter, blunter at the point, and of unequal length- 

 Its attachment to localities is also different. It 

 comes not near houses, like the magpie, neither does 

 it d-vell in thick woods and copses on the rich grounds. 

 It is more of a mountaineer, seeking the forests upon 

 the elevated slopes, nestling in holes, and finding 

 the chief part of its food in the kernels of trees, nuts, 

 acorns, beech mast, the seeds of the coniferae, and other 

 vegetable substances, which, in consequence of the 

 hardness of their envelopes, remain on the ground as 

 a store for nearly the whole season. The hardest of 

 these it can readily break, and it is for this reason 

 that it is called the nutcracker. From the retired 

 nature of its habits in keeping to the wild woods at 

 that season when the knowledge of it would be most 

 interesting, very little is known of the domestic eco- 

 nomy of the nutcracker ; and all that is known in 

 Britain, save the mere appearance and colour of the 

 bird, judged of from a casual straggler or a museum 

 specimen, is at second hand. It is alleged by Klein, 

 and some other of the continental describers, that 

 there are two varieties, or even species, in the Alpine 

 forests of central Europe one with the bill strong 

 and angular, and the tongue long, and forked ; and 

 another with the bill rounder and weaker, and the 

 tongue also divided at the tip, but much shorter than 

 that of the former. It is further said that the one 

 with the angular bill and the long tongue fairly breaks 

 the shells of the nuts, while the other merely pierces 

 them and extracts the kernel through the opening. 

 Their nests are in the holes of trees ; and when they 

 do not meet with these to suit their purposes, they 

 are said to make them, or at all events to work them 

 to the desired shape ; but, as we have already noticed, 

 their habits are imperfectly known. The eggs are 

 said to be about five or six in number, of a greyish 

 fawn colour, and marked with spots of clear brown. 



The nutcracker is not understood to have so much 

 cunning, or to be so much of a thief, as the magpie 

 or the jay, though it is described as still retaining 

 the omnivorous character, and sometimes varying its 

 food by making a meal of another bird, the skull of 

 which it very quickly hammers te pieces with its 

 powerful bill. Adult birds of this species are said 

 not to be tameable, as they obstinately refuse to take 

 food ; but young ones can be tamed with nearly the 

 same facility as others of the genus. In confinement 

 they are said to be given to hoard and pilfer like the 

 rest of the tribe, but whether they have this habit 

 when in a state of nature is not known. 



On the continent this species is very generally 

 distributed, being found not only on the wooded 

 mountains of Europe, but in Siberia, as far as Kamts- 

 chatka. Seasonally they leave the woods, and appear 

 in considerable flocks, and in the flocking season they 

 are often seen both in Germany and France. 



There are very many foreign species, either be- 

 longing to this genus or very nearly allied to it, in 

 almost every part of the world ; but we have not 

 room for even a mere catalogue of the whole ; and 

 their manners, in so far as they differ from those of 

 the species already noticed, are so little known that 

 they could not easily be made interesting to the 

 general reader. We shall therefore close this very 

 iinpei feet sketch by a mere notice of one or two of 

 the most remarkable species. 



Cirri'its cristutus Garrulus cristatus of Cuvier (the 

 Blue Jay of America). This is a very beautiful spe- 

 cies, resembling, in manv of its habits, the common 



